Supposidly this movie is very anti-Semitic and very faithful to John's gospel (which is anti-Semitic), is this true?
And I also heard it's not very faithful to the historical Jesus.
But like 99% of the people I've talked to who have seen it say it's amazing and they loved it.
There are issues.... let me see if I can find the post my divinity student friend made on another board.....
"So anyway, I just got back from seeing this movie. I don't recommend it to any non-Christians. Definitely do not see it if you are not Christian. Only Christians should see it.
Well, now that the reverse psychology is out of the way...I'm rather stunned. It was a hard movie to see. I told myself that no matter what happened I would not avert my eyes from the screen and I stuck to that.
I found myself thinking numerous times that I wanted to devote my life to Jesus Christ, which is rather ironic in a way. It was nearly overwhelming.
I tried to keep myself focused upon how true the movie was to the scripture. Gibson et al did a good job on the whole. It was reasonably exact with a few exceptions where the writers did some guesswork as to what might have happened to certain characters before, during and after key scenes.
Things that do not appear in scripture that I liked:
1. The frequent appearances of Satan. While I felt that this was a useful and even symbolically excellent device, it is not exactly scriptural.
2. The torment and eventual death of Judas. Vivid, frightening and very good, but not in the Bible. In Acts, Judas flings himself off a cliff and his entrails burst, etc. In the movie, he just hangs himself.
3. The second thief on the cross makes light of Jesus' promise to the first thief and is immediately set upon by a raven, which pecks out his eye.
Things that do appear in the scripture that were left out:
1. The actual blame. They did not subtitle the high priest's condemnation of the Jewish people, which I found disappointing. The claim is made: "His blood is on our heads and on the heads of our children."
2. Much of Jesus' sayings and responses to his accusers.
3. The scene in which they put a sack over Jesus head and taunted him. To me, that is one of the most gripping parts of his torture and it makes me want to just beg forgiveness every time I hear it or read it. I wish they had put that in the film.
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My thoughts? It's too early to tell. I will sleep on it and hopefully not have nightmares about it. So far I believe: Every Christian should see this movie at least once a year to remember what it's really all about.
Non Christians: Stay away. And get the large popcorn.
And accept Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as your Lord and Savior. "
Edit: And on the anti-semetic comments... well, Jesus WAS killed by the Jews. It's like making a movie about WW2 and saying it is anti-germanic. Well DUH.
